By Nikki Work Wellander, Senior Media Specialist at JCPH
It’s hard to believe that it’s been three years since the world flipped upside down. In March 2020, the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Colorado, and in the days following the first presumptive positive, the virus swept across the state. That first case of COVID-19 in the state was detected in Summit County, but the individual was under quarantine in Jefferson County. I will never forget hearing that news, nor the ensuing whirlwind that engulfed my colleagues and I at Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH). The COVID-19 pandemic has been one of our society’s biggest collective traumas, and for the frontline workers, including employees in the public health sector, that trauma was especially acute.
As the county’s public health authority and expert, JCPH was responsible for leading the emergency response efforts. That meant our department shifted overnight from working on “normal” public health priorities — like childhood immunizations, food security, restaurant inspections, tobacco prevention, sexual health and more — to prioritizing pandemic response, while still trying to maintain as many pre-COVID activities as possible. Over the last three years, JCPH has played integral roles in procuring PPE for partners across the county, opening and running testing locations, facilitating mass vaccination clinics, tracking the spread of the disease through epidemiological efforts, mitigating risk through public health guidance and regulations and communicating all of this to the public. More recently, JCPH has worked to help promote COVID-19 treatment and ensure ongoing access to vaccination. While COVID-19 may not be occupying quite as much of our collective consciousness as it did in for the first couple years, many JCPH employees still work every day to ensure that not only do we prevent another spike in cases, but we also work to address and ease the long-lasting effects of the pandemic.
On top of all this, the COVID-19 pandemic served as a sort of public health puberty (I know, weird metaphor, but stick with me). Before March 2020, the public health industry largely operated in the background. Few knew who we were, and we were OK with that, so long as we showed up, did our jobs and kept the community safe from behind the curtain. Since the emergence of COVID-19, however, we’ve had to come into our own as active emergency responders under an, at times, crushing amount of public scrutiny. We had to redefine who we are, as an industry, while simultaneously educating those around us about that identity. We had to be empathetic to both fear and skepticism in our community, all while going through that full gamut of emotions as individuals. We woke up one morning and our voice, while not an octave lower or squeaky, was suddenly different — louder and more important than ever. We may not have been dealing with acne and hormones, but we had to grow up and find ourselves — fast, loud and in the spotlight.
A public health leader, and proudly, a colleague and mentor of mine, once compared public health to a sewer system — it’s always there, but you don’t know it until something stinky backs up. While I — to this day — crinkle my nose at this analogy, it rings true. A less icky way of thinking about public health would be to compare it to a projectionist, or for those lucky ones among us who are young enough to never know a world on film, a person working in a projector room at a movie theater (I was pleased to learn while writing this that some theaters still use projectionists — thank goodness, or this analogy would be dead in the water). When you’re watching a film, rarely is your attention drawn to the projector. Even less frequently would you think of the person sitting next to the projector. The only time your mind may wander to that person, or to the technology itself, is when you glance up from the screen and catch sight of the flecks of dust flitting across the light. Despite the lack of attention, though, it’s that stream of light and the person running the machine that make the movie magic happen. Before COVID-19, we were the projectionist, and our day-to-day efforts and resulting impact on the community were the projector and its light. Public health concerns were the flecks of dust — all around us, but mostly easy to let fade into the background. In the wake of the pandemic, we became the film on the screen.
And it’s not just JCPH that has seen an identity shift throughout this process. It’s every employee working in this sector, and beyond that, it’s everyone in our community, too. I won’t pretend to know about your life, dear future reader, but I’d wager that COVID-19 changed you, too.
When I ask my colleagues about their motivations and what makes them love this field, the answer is almost always the same. It’s the act of service to their community. For me, a lifelong Jeffco resident who has been working in public health for the better part of a decade, that’s exactly it. I care about this county and its people. This is the place I was born, the place I grew up, the place I got married and the place I’m now raising my child. The emergency response efforts to COVID-19, while extremely difficult in pretty much every way imaginable, gave me the opportunity of my career to make a tangible impact on the community that has given so much to me throughout my life. That precious opportunity to make a difference is something that, after three busy, difficult and rewarding years, I’ll never forget.
Three years. I trust that now, after about 900 words of you getting to know me, I can speak as not only a public health worker, but as one of you — a Jeffco resident and member of this community. I truly believe that this anniversary is bittersweet, as it marks three years of immense loss, but also of momentous strength for each and every one of us. We’ve seen harrowing struggles, but also extraordinary acts of kindness. We’ve suffered but we’ve also persisted. Something terrible happened to us, but we never gave up. And even though COVID-19 is still present in our community, we’ve gained more ground than once seemed possible. We’ve lived to tell the story and to rewrite the script. Turns out I was wrong — the film in my analogy? It doesn’t just represent public health. It’s all of us.
Public health is for everyone, and JCPH is here for you and your family. The topics that are important to you are important to us, and we want to hear from you! Send us an email or find us online and on Facebook or Twitter.
About Jefferson County Public Health
Public health is what we do collectively to prevent illness and premature death and promote health in our neighborhoods and communities. Jefferson County Public Health (JCPH) is a nationally accredited health department committed to promoting and protecting health across the lifespan for all people through prevention, education and partnerships. To learn more about JCPH visit https://www.jeffco.us/public-health. You can also follow JCPH on Twitter @JeffcoPH, Instagram @JeffcoPH and Facebook @jeffcopublichealth.
Joel has been a resident of Edgewater, Colorado with his family since 2012. He is the Executive Director of local education nonprofit Edgewater Collective and Editor of the Edgewater Echo.
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